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New York Giants’ Terrell Thomas Officially Named Starting Slot Corner on Defense

September 13th, 2013 at 6:30 AM By Douglas Rush

Terrell Thomas was just hoping to get back into the NFL and get back onto the field for the New York Giants after spending the last two years recovering from two consecutive ACL tears and surgeries, which cost him the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

This past Sunday, Thomas played in his first professional game since 2010 by playing at cornerback against Dallas Cowboys; making seven total tackles; six of which were solo tackles, and showed signs of playing like his former self against the Cowboys.

"Perry Fewell told reporters that Terrell Thomas is playing so well he's now the Giants' slot cornerback, no matter what," he tweeted.

With that, Thomas surpasses both Aaron Ross and Jayron Hosley on the depth chart, as Corey Webster and Prince Amukamara are the two main starters; although if Amukamara can't play for the Giants on Sunday against the Denver Broncos due to the concussion suffered in Dallas, Ross would likely get bumped up to be the starter opposite Webster.

For Thomas to move up the depth chart that quickly is an extremely good sign for the Giants defense, as well as for Thomas in his comeback attempt. The 28-year-old was a former second-round pick of the team back in the 2008 NFL Draft and everyone had very high hopes for him, as he recorded 11 interceptions in his first three seasons and was regarded as the team's best cover corner on the verge of greatness in the league.

But the domino effect happened to Thomas, as he tore his ACL playing against the Chicago Bears in the preseason two summers ago and then tore it again last summer during the Giants training camp, so it made sense for the team to bring him back slowly in the preseason. Now, after fighting hard for the last two years to just get back on the field, Thomas is slowly but surely re-establishing himself in Fewell's defense.

What a great story. Well deserved. And we are now looking awfully good in the defensive backfield.

As to Bradford and Acho, since I never heard of either and haven’t seen them play, I’m grateful to those who commented. Diamonds in the rough? Hope so because despite the truth that LBers are of less importance in our defense than the other 8 positions, you still need good ones and we didn’t have enough at the position. I like Rivers, Paysinger and Williams but we need depth and a little more size on the inside. I’m still rooting for Herzlich but he hasn’t looked like much of a player. We shouldn’t give up on him yet. Jim Hermann obviously likes him enough to have not insisted Blackburn be brought back. But Mark has to step his game up soon or he won’t be here much longer.

I’m thrilled with getting Bradford. I didn’t watch much person this year but I did catch Seattle a few times and Bradford made a real impression on me. I didn’t know who was though and I was wondering how a kid that looked so good was a no name. Then they told his story and I actually remember him at USC as a RB. He was suppose to be the next lendalle white. Anyway from what I saw in the preseason he looked like a more athletic version of Paysinger. I’m very surprised Seattle risked him on PS again but I guess it’s no different than us and Ojomo. With Bradford we truly have an real athletic LB unit that should be much better in coverage. If we can defend the run with our LBs as well as we did in the Dallas game look out.

I think Paysinger should get the first look at backup MLB and be poised to take over should Herzlich continue to struggle. It seems that without Conner we are going to struggle against the run at MLB anyways so Paysinger might make sense to help versus the pass. I think Rivers is playing well at SLB so I prefer to keep him there.

I hope this TT news is just about him and not Hosley. Hosley is too talented to be stuck as the 4th CB. At least he should get a PR look.

We will finally get a look at Moore for the Denver game. I think he can be an Osi like pass rusher from day one. Maybe not the best of Osi but like the last 2 years of his here. Playing on 3rd downs across from JPP and with Jenkins and Tuck inside he can be a force.

I’m excited for this game because it’s the type of game we usually see an A effort from us. No miller & champ are huge factors for Denver. Even if DRC can cover Nicks or Cruz we have many more weapons than a banged up Bmore offense did to attack them. The Denver LBs are really good in coverage but Wilson is a special athlete that should be able to take advantage of one on one coverage from those LBs.